


curses

by desdemona (LydiaOfNarnia)



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Birthdays, F/M, Fluff, JUST FLUFF THATS ALL THIS IS, Massages
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-10
Updated: 2016-03-10
Packaged: 2018-05-25 20:50:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,265
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6209647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LydiaOfNarnia/pseuds/desdemona
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Akiteru's birthday has been cursed for as long as he can remember. Saeko doesn't believe in curses.</p><p>For <a href="http://akisaeweek.tumblr.com/">Akisae Week 2016!</a></p>
            </blockquote>





	curses

**Author's Note:**

> I have writers block and threw this together in like an hour, but i love these two even more now and I need to do more stuff for AkiSae week. So, here I am-- a day late with Starbucks -- to celebrate Akiteru's birthday.

Akiteru didn’t like birthdays that much. Maybe that’s where the problem lay -- because Saeko _loved_ birthdays.

“It’s another year, and it means you’re getting older, and you can do even more things you didn’t get the chance to do the year before,” she rambled, having flopped back on their bed. Staring up at their blank ceiling, eyes tracing the cracks in the plaster, her light hair spread out around her like a messy halo. Akiteru sighed, throwing his book to the ground and turning to run his fingers through the golden locks the way he knew she loved.

“It means new opportunities, you know?” Her eyes flickered towards him; a grin flashed across her face, somehow too bright for Akiteru’s already-strung-out mind to keep up with at this time of night. “How can you not like birthdays?”

“When I was nine, I broke my leg when I fell out of a tree. When I was eleven, my goldfish died. When I was fourteen, Kei hit his head while playing outside and had to get stitches. When I was sixteen, I had the flu. When I was nineteen, my girlfriend broke up with me. Twenty-one, car accident, and I broke my wrist. There are more things. _Every_ year. All on my birthday.”

_“Damn.”_

He flopped his face into the pillow, burrowing in it to hide his own combination of frustration mixed with mild embarrassment. Ignoring Saeko’s wheedling hands running along his hair and the back of his neck was difficult, but he’d been getting better at ignoring her since dating her. Very few things got under her skin like not having someone’s full attention when she wanted it; easy as it was to be drawn in by her, he needed to have some form of leverage if he wanted to tease her as much as she teased him.

“You’re getting old,” she wheedled, and he tried to shake her off. All she wanted was to get under his skin, to try to convince him to lighten up and enjoy what was supposed to be his big day; Akiteru knew that by being so cross, he wasn’t only ruining it for himself, but for her as well. “So maybe your birthday’s a little cursed -- curses can break, you know! You just gotta…”

“Stay positive?” He suggested, words muffled by the pillow.

“Hell no, that’s cliche. Stay… _stay…_ ” In her musings, she began to dig her elbows into his back; it was a familiar enough sensation by now that he knew what was coming. A soft sigh escaped his parted lips as Saeko slowly began the motions in between his shoulder blades, kneading and pressing all the knots out with practiced hands. 

Whether she had lost her train of thought or just given up, she fell silent; her hands did all the talking for her, massaging Akiteru’s back with an ease that came naturally to her after nearly a year of figuring out her boyfriend’s body. She knew just the right buttons to press, just the right muscles to caress, and slowly enough Akiteru found himself melting into the sheets, eyes growing heavy.

“I don’t wanna fall asleep,” he muttered, sticking his lower lip out in a pout that really didn’t suit someone who would be twenty-four in just a few short hours. “When I wake up, I really will be old.”

“When you wake up, the apocalypse might come,” Saeko observed astutely.

Akiteru hummed into the pillow, letting out another sigh -- frustration that shifted to bliss halfway when Saeko dug the heel of her hand into the spot directly between her shoulder blades. Drumming did fantastic things for Saeko’s hands; they were firm, calloused but gentle when needed. Her nails were never well-manicured, and always painted some outlandish color, and she would always try to convince Akiteru to match nail polish with her ( he never minded, as long as Saeko was doing the painting). Her massages were legendary -- even though he had an inkling that this one was mostly out of pity.

“You don’t have to feel bad for me,” he muttered, and began to pull away; Saeko’s grip held him in place. Frowning, he propped his chin up on one hand and turned to look at her. “My birthday isn’t going to be exciting. There won’t be a party or anything. I know you love to make a big deal out of Ryuu’s birthdays --”

“As big a deal as I can,” she cut him off; she’d fallen back now, sitting on her knees and frowning deeply at him. “Cause he’s a great kid and deserves a birthday if I can give it to him. Didn’t matter if money was tight or dad wasn’t always around, I found a way to get him a cake and a few gifts. Ryuu always had great birthdays, because birthdays are important and I love birthdays. And _you_ \--”

Akiteru blinked, fighting the sudden urge to sneeze when Saeko abruptly tapped him on the nose. “You deserve the same thing! Cause you’re a great guy and you’re _my_ guy! I want to see you happy on your birthday!”

Somehow just that declaration -- open, honest, and absolutely fervent, in that forceful way Saeko had when she knew she was right and wasn’t about to tolerate a single argument -- began to coax a feeling of warmth into the hollows of his chest. It spread there, filling his ribs and encircling his heart, warming up his entire body. Saeko’s lips turned up in a half-smile that still somehow bordered on a smirk, and he couldn’t help himself.

“C’mere,” he growled, and with a lunge forward he managed to get her on her back, him on top and her pinned below him. Beaming down at her, he then kissed her -- once, twice, intensity mounting as they grew closer and the air between them grew warmer. His hands, covered by hers, were pressed to her cheeks; when she pulled away, she was grinning widely.

“Stay,” she whispered again, and this time it wasn’t just a stray wisp of thought but an order. “Stay, with me. Stay in bed all day if you want, but let’s stay together. Tonight. Tomorrow.”

“Forever,” he shot back, even though it was the type of cliche line she’d usually snort at. She did now, laughter bubbling up from her chest and spilling from her mouth in peals that called to mind the chime of a bell. Leaning up, she twined her arms around his shoulders and pressed her face against his neck.

“If your birthday curse ends the world tomorrow then yeah, I guess we really might.” Lips moved lazily against his jaw. “But… curses can be broken too, don’cha think?”

Akiteru’s only reply was a noncommittal hum, hand venturing along her waist, tracing her hipbones. Saeko chuckled at the action, and one painted nail traced it’s way along Akiteru’s jawline.

“If any dumb curse tries to bother you tomorrow, I’ll scare it away for you,” she muttered. “Just watch me.” Somehow, Akiteru didn’t doubt her for a second.

The final hour passes and ends; midnight rings true with all the promise of two lovers tangled in sheets, lost in dreams and each other, prepared for whatever the morning might bring.

Which was, predictably, a cake. Saeko had gone out and bought Akiteru a cake, which they then ate together in bed while watching Netflix and listening to classic rock songs Akiteru made Saeko fall in love with. The worst thing to happen was a minor foodfight; overall, the day passed serenely. 

Curses, as it turned out, can be broken after all.


End file.
